Paws at work The Official Uniteddogs and Unitedcats team blog

Haha, we dare you! 26th June 2009 is the Take Your Dog To Work Day. Yep, that’s right! Take your dog to work on that day, and try out these crazy ideas to make that day really memorable.

1. Nominate your dog for the “Employee of the Month” contest, claiming that he’s more useful and smarter than anyone else in the company.

2. Take your dog to all meetings and make the boss double-check for his opinion before any decisions are taken.

3. Give your co-worker’s sandwich to your dog, when he walks in on you, apologize sincerely for the mix-up and offer him some doggie biscuits in replacement.

4. When talking to an angry client on the phone, tell them to hold on for a minute as you go and get the supervisor. Then put your dog on the loudspeaker and leave the office.

5. Get your dog to sort the company’s incoming and outgoing letters. Forward any complaints about chewed envelopes to the local Postal Service.

6. During lunch with co-workers, whisper in your dog’s ear, then pretend your dog said something back and start laughing: “Yeah, that’s so true!”

7. Tell everyone that your dog is psychic and will always stay next to the person who deserves a raise. Hold a piece of meat in your palm and don’t let your dog leave your side during the whole day.

8. Put some ink on your dog’s paws and let him “write” on an A2 size paper. Then take the paper to the boss saying you’ve just got a new genius business idea. Claim that it’s waaaay ahead of its time.

9. Redesign the lounge area with soft carpets, toys, a doggie bed and a drinking fountain. Put a sign on the door reading “Pookie’s Office”

10. Instead of taking your dog outside, let him do his business in the regular office toilets, because none of the other employees are forced to go into the near by bushes.

Oh, and of course, be sure to sign up to Uniteddogs and say “hi” to your colleague dogs, and to share pictures of that fun and special day!

A while ago we said that we’re working on a project that you would hear about really soon. We need your help as well in this, because in July 2009, we want to turn the world’s attention to the animals in South Korea and make the lives of over 2,000,000 dogs better.

We recently learned that in South Korea every year over 2,000,000 dogs get burned, beaten and strangled to death because of the belief that torture makes dog meat tastier and the eater more masculine.

Dogs are raised in special farms: they are kept in filthy crates, given just enough food to get some meat on their bones and then killed. The meat is taken to market places across the county and sold openly. Over 6,000 restaurants have dog meat meals on their menu.

We can’t believe that this is happening in 2009…South Korea is, after all, one of the rising business and technology centres of Asia!
Animal torture is illegal across the world, but South Korea has never really enforced their Animal Protection Laws. Some people think animal torture is OK, because it’s an ancient tradition. Actually, dog eating is not accepted in South Korea as a tradition. It only became wide spread during the Korean War in 1950s (because there some simply nothing else to eat).

It’s a long time since the 1950s and South Korea is firmly up on their feet. The dog meat industry thrives because the government does nothing to ban it. And they know exactly how to do that. Did you know that during the 1988 Olympic Games and 2002 FIFA Cup in South Korea all dog meat restaurants were forced to shut down for about a month, because the government didn’t want any “bad reputation”.

We are going to open an online petition site to stop dog torture and the dog meat industry in South Korea very shortly. All the signatures will be handed over to the local government. Hopefully, you and your friends will sign it as well. The petition page will have all the relevant information on the legal and historical background, videos, pictures etc but before the campaign site is up, you can read about the cruel reality via Google (type in “korea dog farm”).

Are you with us?

Hey folks. This here is a very positive piece of news that we’re just starting to send out today. So here goes:

June 11, 2009, TALLINN, Estonia – Makers of Uniteddogs and Unitedcats, the Estonia-based United Dogs and Cats Ltd (UDC), received an investment of €480,000.

The investment was made jointly by 3 parties – the state-owned Estonian Development Fund, Ambient Sound Investments - an investment group led by co-founders of Skype, and a private entrepreneur with a web background in the Baltic region, Mr Raivo Hein.

“We have shown a steady growth of both revenues and the user base,” CEO of United Dogs and Cats, Mr Ragnar Sass says, “we’ve got over 200,000 users and we are the market leader in Italy, France, Spain, Lithuania and Estonia. This is something we are really excited about.”

Available in more than 10 languages, Uniteddogs and Unitedcats are fun and useful web communities where pet-owners can communicate, find new friends and learn to take better care of their pets.

“The investment will be used to further perfect the core services and to grow the user base,” Mr Andrus Oks, a spokesman from the Estonian Development Fund commented.

Currently, the main sources of income for United Dogs and Cats are advertising of pet-related products and paid services for its members, like the Champion membership which enables access to additional features. “Currently, the Estonian economy is in a recession. But in a situation like today, we are glad to have managed to grow our revenues over the last quarters,” mr Sass stated. Currently, about three quarters of UDC’s revenues come from outside Estonia.

UDC focuses on how to enable great conversations between pet-owners, as well as to help people take better care of their pets. “We will introduce some revolutionary services later this year that will bring veterinarians and pet-owners much closer,” Mr Ragnar Sass also added.

Previously, UDC had received €170,000 of funding from Ambient Sound Investments (ASI) in April 2008. “The early stage investment United Dogs and Cats Ltd received from us was successful - the product has been well received by the users. We now look forward to the expansion of the service,” Kristjan Laanemaa, an investment manager at ASI, commented.

About United Dogs and Cats Ltd (UDC)
Founded in 2007, United Dogs and Cats Limited is the maker of social networking sites Uniteddogs.com and Unitedcats.com. Company’s blog: http://blog.uniteddogs.com

About Estonian Development Fund
The Estonian Development Fund was launched in April 2007. It was created by the Estonian Parliament to initiate and support changes in the Estonian economy and society that would accelerate modernization of the economic structure, lead to growth of export and contribute to creating new jobs with high qualifications.

About Ambient Sound Investments
Ambient Sound Investments (ASI) was established by the four founding engineers of Skype. ASI is a investing shareholders’ equity primarily in Eastern European start-ups offering innovative technology and services. Since March 2006 the company has invested 8,2 millon EUR in 13 companies in several sectors including telematics, biotechnology and power electronics.

Contacts for more information

Andrus Oks, Investment expert at the Estonian Development Fund, phone +372 5087 123, e-mail: andrus.oks[at]arengufond.ee
Ragnar Sass, CEO of United Dogs and Cats Ltd, phone +372 5714 666, e-mail: ragnar[at]uniteddogs.com

Woof-woof-woof! We could continue barking or just let you know why we are so excited.

Riki is a big puppy now and just turned 1 years old. His day started out well, lazing in the office all morning. When our team got back from the morning coffee break, Riki has a fun time sniffing out all the ham sandwiches that we had hidden from him into our drawers.

Finally, after a walk and some healthy lunch, Riki got his birthday present – a yummy juicy sausage hoop. We put it around his neck like he had just won the Formula 1 cup or the Olympics, but really it is because he has won our hearts.

Happy birthday Riki! We wish you health and a lot of girlfriends when the time comes

You can pass on your birthday greetings at http://et.uniteddogs.com/dog/udc !

A mysterious drink was going around the UDC offices yesterday in a tall slim bottle looking something like THIS…

The bottle and its contents were delivered to our leader Ragnar and he then went around the office, luring all team members to drink it. Some of the weaker members of staff reacted something like THIS…

One of our own - Nino - later admitted it was he who concocted the potion and revealed that it was authentic Italian limoncello. Hm..maybe the crowd would have been more satisfied if there was tiramisu to go with it ?

Nino is in the UDC sales department and he is flying to Italy next week on official doggy business. And since he doesn’t have a pet of his own (too much travelling to do), he loves taking Riki out for walks at lunch time. Riki is thankful for it, too. „Woof,“ he says.*

* (translation: „Bring me back some ham!“)

We are pleased to have another new member – Rami Lill – in our team! Rami’s expertise is marketing and he will be helping with all our upcoming campaigns in the summer. He also has his own private project, which you will hear about very soon.

Our office dog-and-cat count is now firmly tilted to the dogs’ side as Rami has an übercute Jack Russell terrier puppy called Maxwell. According to Rami, Max is probably sleeping and eating at home, while he’s at work. We’ll keep our fingers crossed, but a five-month-old pup might have some new tricks up his sleeve :)!

Rami and Max are new to the Uniteddogs.com site, so if you want to follow up on Max and give him welcome gift, go to http://en.uniteddogs.com/dog/132941.

Psst!

By the way, Rami has a great loony sense of humour which we love at UDC, but since it’s only 9.36am in the office, we won’t share one of his dirty jokes (:P) but instead give you something softer to start the day with…

An Estonian, a German and a Russian are on a stranded island and they find a bottle with a genie inside. Everyone gets one wish. The Russian and the German wish that they were back home and so happens. The Estonian thinks for a little while and says: “I feel lonely; I wish my friends came back.”

June 1 is the 152nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar, but more importantly, it is also the first day at work for a new team member Ellen (me!), who will be assisting with content on uniteddogs.com and unitedcats.com.

I am currently working on getting you guys more relevant material to read on our webpages and will soon launch an international campaign for a cause that has been close to the hearts at UDC for a long time and hopefully will also touch yours.

Riki (the office pet dog) has been rather indifferent towards me so far, so I am planning to spoil him tomorrow with some gourmet ham, doggie biscuits or just a pat.

I would also include a picture of my rather empty desk, but I am currently stuck between an air ionisator , 4 tables and a large carpet (we are moving soon!), and will wait for a better time to make promotional photographs

The weather is lovely in Tallinn and I will be taking my cat out on a leash later this evening. I can bearly handle him when we are out for a walk and he only weighs 9 pounds. My regards to anyone else who is going to get dragged around by a 9+ pound pet tonight in the park, looking helpless!

Cheers and have a wonderful day with your loved ones!

31st May 2009 marks the 2nd anniversary of Uniteddogs.com and Unitedcats.com. This a special day, and we decided to organize yet another wonderful photo contest. We wanted to involve you folks as much as possible, because you make Uniteddogs the lovely place what it is today. So we decided to redesign our front pages for new visitors and feature some of you on the very front pages of Uniteddogs.com. Come and take part in this Great Cover Photo Contest, and it might be your photo that welcomes people to Uniteddogs. We have 5 spots to give away per each language version. The contest is open!

This time, give the camera to your friend instead, and let him/her snap a photo of yourself with your woof-woof-wonderful dogs. And hey, it’s allright if you don’t want to put yourself into the spotlight – in that case, you can just snap a photo of your dogs as well. But try to capture the joy that Uniteddogs brings into your life. Yes-yes, we know it’s there, so let it shine!

Join the competition at Uniteddogs or join the competition at Unitedcats

• The 5 best photos will be used on the front pages of Uniteddogs and Unitedcats.
• The 5 best photos will also be turned into cute e-cards.
• The submitters of top 5 photos in each language of Uniteddogs and Unitedcats will receive 7250 bonus points (because Uniteddogs and Unitedcats will get exactly 725 days old on May 31st, 2009).
• All submitters of top 5 best photos will receive an official printed Uniteddogs or Unitedcats certificate.

Woof/meow!

After a little while again, we’ve added a new language in which Uniteddogs and Unitedcats are available. From now on, we’re available in Finnish.

• Uniteddogs in Finnish
• Unitedcats in Finnish

Tervetuloa!

On May 31st, 2009, we’ll be celebrating our 2nd birthday. As part of the celebration, we’ll kick off a photo contest soon. Watch out for more announcements. Oh, and do follow us on Twitter.